Updating the installation
There are several ways to update the installation:
- Automatic method
- Manual method
- Importing an update
- Local directory
- External tool
It should be noted that setup is also an update method, but that it does not always contain the very latest version. In fact, the update concept was designed to allow very rapid updates, and therefore to be able to react very quickly either to a change in SPF constraints, or to the correction of a bug preventing normal use of the software. It may therefore happen that an update is available, but the latest setup does not incorporate this change.
The latest setup is always available at www.corporate.be/corporatedesk/FR/setup.zip
Updating, by whatever method, also requires the Windows user performing the update to be a member of the Administrators group, for the same reasons as for installation.
1. Automatic method
The automatic method is the simplest. When it starts up, the application connects to the update server and compares the local installation with the one proposed on the server. If they are identical (which is the case in the majority of cases), start-up continues without saying anything: the application is up to date. But if there is a difference, if the local installation is older than the one proposed on the update server, the update of the local installation is proposed or at least announced, depending on the rights of the user running the application.
You can reset your local installation (which may be the case, for example, if the user sees that the update concerns the ‘281 Forms’ module while he is busy submitting VAT returns), or you can accept it (which is recommended in most cases). In this case, the update is downloaded, then the current instance of the application is stopped, the application is updated and restarted. If the update fails, the application performs a ‘rollback’ as far as possible, i.e. it reverts as far as possible to the situation that prevailed before the update attempt.
Note that for the update to be carried out, the user must have administrator rights, or more precisely be a member of the administrator group. This means that at the time of the actual update, the application may require UAC rights to be removed.
By default, this check only takes place once a day. This means that if you start the application several times on the same day, it will check its status the first time, but will not do so on subsequent occasions.
You can change this behaviour in the ‘File’ menu, ‘Preferences’, ‘Internet’ tab: select ‘Every start-up’, ‘Once a day’ or ‘Every ... day’ and specify the number of days (between 2 and 30). Note that the ‘work offline’ option is not ticked.
2. Manual method
You can also carry out a manual update. The mechanism is much the same, except that it is not run automatically at start-up; you do it yourself.
This can be useful, for example, if the automatic update at startup has failed or if you are working offline.
To do this manually, go to the ‘File’ menu, ‘Preferences’, ‘Internet’ tab.
Click on ‘Internet’ and click on ‘Manual update’ (bottom right).
You can also go to the application's control panel, option ‘Detailed application configuration’, button ‘Update’. Apart from the fact that you trigger this update voluntarily (by clicking on a button), it works in the same way as the automatic update. In particular, it may be necessary to increase the user's rights. Whether via the application or via the control panel, the update will not take effect until the current application is closed, but there will be no automatic restart.
Example: you carry out a manual update in the ‘Internet’ tab of the Corporate Desk preferences. The update is downloaded and put on hold. You continue to work with the old version; the new version will not be installed until you close Corporate Desk, and will therefore not be available until you start it up again.
3. Import
You can also download an update and import it into the application. The advantage of this method is that the update can be downloaded to a workstation other than the one where the application is running, for example because that workstation is not connected to the Internet or because the proxy or firewall prevents it. The application update can be imported from www.corporate.be/corporatedesk/patch_<productversion>.upd, where the product version must be indicated in lower case.
For example, with version 10, the update can be downloaded from www.corporate.be/corporatedesk/patch_v.10.upd.
Then go to the ‘File’ menu, ‘Preferences’, ‘Internet’ tab, button
‘Then select the downloaded file and follow the instructions.’
Once again, you may need to update your user rights. As with an online update, the update will only take effect once the application has been restarted.
This import can also be carried out in the control panel: ‘Detailed application configuration’, ‘Import an update’ button.
4. Local directory
The above procedures apply individually to each workstation. However, in a network, some workstations may be connected to the Internet and others not. Or access to the Internet via a proxy may be different from one workstation to another.
It is therefore possible for a workstation on the network with Internet access to download the update, install it on its own behalf and share it with other workstations via a local directory accessible to all the workstations concerned.
- Local directory providers
Local directory providers are those who have access to the Internet. They configure their workstations as described above in the ‘Automatic’ section, but they also select a local directory in the ‘Copy to’ field using the ‘...’ button.
This directory is arbitrary, but it must of course be accessible to all workstations on the network, for example on a file server. It is advisable to use a directory just for this purpose, but it is not compulsory. The application will create a sub-directory in this directory for the current version (‘X.15a’ for example).
The local directory is also populated during a manual update or when an update is imported. To cancel this function, simply empty the ‘Copy to’ field.
- Local directory clients
Local directory clients are those who will update their version of Corporate Desk by reading updates in this local directory. They do not need to have access to the Internet, but they must of course have the necessary rights to update (administrator rights, as explained above).
To activate this feature, in the ‘Internet’ tab of the preferences, simply tick ‘Extract updates from’, and select the local directory provided by the ‘suppliers’.
5. External tool
A final option is to use the ‘CheckCDUpdate.exe’ tool. This tool was designed primarily for the ‘Terminal Server’ world, but is not limited to it.
This option is particularly useful if the usual user of the application does not have the required update rights: as soon as an update is available, the system administrator can launch this tool without having to start the application.
Another potential use is to have this tool run automatically every night (for example), and in return no longer check for updates when the application is started (see ‘File’ menu, ‘Preferences’, ‘Internet’ tab).
This tool is self-contained: it can be moved and copied anywhere, and run from that separate location. But it must, of course, be on the computer where the application is installed.
The detailed operation of this tool is described in another document associated with Terminal Server. (see attachment below).